Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Interstitial Fiction is all about breaking rules,ignoring boundaries, cross-pollinating the fieldsof literature. It’s about working between,across, through, and at the edges and borders ofliterary genres, including fiction andnon-fiction. It falls between the cracks of othermovements, terms, and definitions. If you have astory idea that’s impossible to describe in acouple of sentences, it may be interstitial.

We’re looking for previously unpublished storiesthat engage us and make us think about literaturein new ways. Rather than defining “interstitial”for you, we’d like you to show us whatgenre-bending fiction looks like. Surprise us;make us see that literature holds possibilitieswe haven't yet imagined.

We are also open to graphic stories of about 10pages.

Who We Are Looking For

Writers in all genres of fiction (contemporaryrealism, mystery, historical, fantasy, whatever)who have an idea that challenges generic tropesand expectations. If you're not sure whether astory is interstitial, send it along anyway.

Practical Matters

Our submission period will be from October 1,2008 to December 2, 2008. Please submitelectronically only. Send your stories to:interfictions(at)interstitialarts.org (replace (at)with @).

You will hear from us after January, 2009.

Overseas submissions are welcome. Storiespreviously published in other languages may besubmitted in English translation for firstEnglish language publication.

Please follow standard manuscript formatting andsubmission conventions: ie, double-spaced, with1” margins, and the name of the story on eachpage. No simultaneous or multiple submissions.Word count is open, but the ideal range is4,000-10,000 words. Payment will be 5 cents aword for non-exclusive world anthology rights, onpublication, along with 2 author’s copies.

Any questions? Write us at interfictions(at)interstitialarts.org (replace (at) with @).

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Online Journal Seeks Current Events Poetryhttp://www.newversenews.com

THE NEW VERSE NEWS covers the news and public affairs with poems on issues, large and small, international and local. It relies on the submission of poems (especially those of a politically progressive bent) by writers from all over the world.

The editors update the website every day or two with the best work received.

See the website at http://www.newversenews.com for guidelines and for examples of the kinds of poems THE NEW VERSE NEWS publishes. Then paste your submission and a brief bio in the text of an email (no attachments, please) to editor(at)newversenews.com (replace (at) with @). Write "Verse News Submission" in the subject line of your email.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

My Paper, My LandA postcard show will be held to coincide with the IAPMA Congress in Burnie, Tasmania. Works should reflect where you come from and contain at least 80% paper. The size should be around 10 x 15 cm and works should be sent through the mail, preferably with a postage stamp and postmark to Gail Stiffe, 11 Keltie Street Glen Iris, Victoria 3146, Australia.The works will be exhibited in Creative Paper's Gallery for one month including the congress time and will be for sale for $A20 each unframed. The funds raised will be shared equally between Papermakers of Victoria, Creative Paper, the IAPMA support fund and the Papermaking Village in the Philippines and unsold works will remain the property of Creative Paper Tasmania. All works will be documented on a website to be announced. Works can be sent any time between now and 1 March 2009, there is no limit to the number of entries anyone can send. Please indicate on your card if you do NOT wish it to be displayed on the website. Contact info@gailstiffe.info for more information.www.papergail.blogspot.comwww.gailstiffe.info

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Writing Resource Center is beginning our yearly hiring process for new SWAs. Applications are available in the WRC and are due by 5 pm on Monday, April 28. I'm writing to ask that you inform your students of this opportunity. If there are any students you feel would be particularly good additions to the WRC staff, please personally encourage them to apply.

We have a unique challenge/opportunity in our hiring for next year, as five of our current SWAs are graduating in May and another will be leaving after next fall. That means that we need to hire at least five new SWAs. With so many openings, we want to do everything possible to have a high number of qualified applicants to choose from. This need also gives us a great opportunity to hire a group of SWAs with diverse backgrounds. With that in mind, we'd like to have quality applicants from each of the divisions. So, again, if you know anyone who seems like a particularly good candidate, please encourage them to apply. Thank you.

Natasha Trethewey will read and discuss her work April 17th 7:00 p.m. at TraditionsHall on the University of South Florida Tampa campus. The 2007Pulitzer Prize winner accepted the award for her third poetry collection, Native Guard, published in 2006. It contains her poems about black Union soldierswho guarded a fort off the coast of Mississippi during the U. S.Civil War.

Her first work, Domestic Work, was selected by Rita Dove to receivethe inaugural 1999 CaveCanem poetry prize for the best first book by an AfricanAmerican poet and also received the 2001 Lillian Smith Award forPoetry and the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize.Her second work, Bellocq’s Ophelia (2002) received the 2003Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Book Prize. She is therecipient of the prestigious Bunting fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.

Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, Trethewey holds a B.A. in English from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from HollinsUniversity, and an M.F. A. in poetry from the University ofMassachusetts. She is the Phillis Wheatley Distinguished Chair, andprofessor of poetry at Emory University

This event is sponsored by the USF Humanities Institute, the departments of Englishand Women’s Studies, and USF Women in Leadership and Philanthropy.

This route consists of testimonies, creations videos, of soundcreations. I invite you to discover them, to share them in wills ofthe"rss", "podacst" and MailingLists and lists of which you thinkinterested in this subject.http://criticast.net/index.php?podcast=confettis.orghttp://criticast.net/index.php?rss=confettis.org

Do not forget to leave your comments & your propositions.

During december, I shall suggest you following me to Corsica(Ajaccio) where I shall go to accost in December on Doc(K)s .../...

Writing suggestion for your poem of the day, one per day. 1. Write a ten-line poem in which each line is a lie. 2. Write a poem that tells a story in 18 lines or less, and includes atleast four proper nouns.

3. Write a poem that uses any of the senses EXCEPT SIGHT as itspredominant imagery.

4. Write a poem inspired by a newspaper article you read this week.

5. Write a poem without adjectives.

6. Ask your roommate/neighbor/lover/friend/mother/anyone for a subject(as wild as they want to make it) for a ten-minute poem. Now write a poemabout that subject in ten minutes; make it have a beginning, a middle andan end. 7. Write the worst poem you possibly can. Now edit it and make it evenworse.

12. Write a poem that uses as a starting point a conversation youoverheard.

13. First line of today's poem: "This is not a poem, but..."

14. Write a poem in the form of either a letter or a speech which uses atleast six of the following words: horses, "no, duh," adolescent, autumnleaves, necklace, lamb chop, Tikrit, country rock, mother, scamper, zap,bankrupt. Take no more than 13 minutes to write it.

15. Write a poem which includes a list or lists-shopping list, things todo, lists of flowers or rocks, lists of colors, inventory lists, lists ofevents, lists of names... 16. Poem subject: A person runs where no running is allowed. Write it inten minutes.

17. Write a poem in the form of a personal ad.

18. Write a poem made up entirely of questions. Or write a poem made upentirely of directions.

19. Write a poem about the first time you did something.

20. Write a poem about falling out of love. 21. Make up a secret. Then write a poem about it. Or ask someone to giveyou a made-up or real secret, and write a poem about it.

22. Write a poem about a bird you don't know the name of.

23. Write a hate poem. 24. Free-write for, say, 15 minutes, but start with the phrase "In thekitchen" and every time you get stuck, repeat the phrase "In thekitchen." Alternatively, use any part of a house you have lots ofassociations with-"In the garage," "In the basement," "In the bathroom,""In the yard."

25. Write down 5-10 words that sound ugly to you. Use them in a poem. 26. Write a poem in which a motorcycle and a ballerina appear.

27. Write a poem out of the worst part of your character. 28. Write a poem that involves modern technology-voice mail, or instantmessaging, or video games, or... 29. Write a seduction poem in which somebody seduces you.

30. Radically revise a poem you wrote earlier this month.

another list

1. Write a really ugly poem.2. Quickly pick out 12 words from the titles of books on a nearby bookshelf. Use them in a poem.3. Write a poem with an invented biography for yourself.4. Take a 1-2 page poem from a book and re-type it backwardsfrom the very last word in the poem all the way to the very first, keeping the lines the same lengths as they are in the book. Use this as the starting point of a poem, picking out the word formations that are particularly interesting to you.5. Write from the number six.6. Write to your pain: "Dear Pad of My Thumb, Will you kindly stop hurting? It is very hard for me to stir a pot or write a poem when you hurt like this..."7. Let your pain write back to you: "Dear Liesl, if you would lay off the text messaging and playing minesweeper it would help me a lot, then you can write your poem or stir a pot..."8. Write to your hurting country, city or community, as a variation on the theme. Take the dialogue as far as it goes, then distill the essence. See if you can arrive at a fresh insight about what ails you and yours.9. Wow! You’ve been at this over a week straight! Let your hand draw an abstract shape. Write about it.10. Speaking as a fortune teller, tell a fortune. The first line is: You will take a strange journey ...... Finish the prediction/forecast by describing the journey and giving instructions or advice or even warnings for the journey.11. Write a poem of at least 40 lines that is a single sentence.12. Take fairy tale and rewrite it from the viewpoint of another character. For example, use the wolf to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood.13. Write about a family secret.14. Write an apostrophe to some abstraction (e.g., "To the End of the World" or "To My Birth").15. Write about someone waiting for something.16. Write about a color without naming the coloror its kin, e.g., no fair using “crimson” “scarlet” or “ruddy” instead of red.17. Take any object out of your bag or pocket or purse. Speaking in first person AS THE OBJECT answer the following questions (in any order): What is your favorite thing? What are you scared of? What is your secret? What is your wish for the future?18. Take someone else's poem and select one word per line, writing them out in a list. Then write your own poem using these words in the same sequence, one per line.19. Write 100 words (any kind of words) about your kitchen table.20. Write a poem in which the form contradicts the content.21. Write a piece at least 50 words long using only one-syllable words.22. Take a common object, such as a flowerpot, boot or paperclip, and write about it as if you’ve never seen such a thing before (e.g., you’re from the future and have just excavated it, or are from another planet).23. Take the name of a favorite poet and anagram it. Use this to begin a poem.24. Pick a word from today’s headlines and write a definition poem for it.25. Write the poem you cannot write.26. What Work is For You: Write about a job you have had, whether you loathed it or loved it. Write from your own experience but go beyond the literal! Keep the poem in the present tense, and BE SURE THERE IS A PHYSICAL ACTION INVOLVED such as scrubbing floors, dissecting chickens, helping someone use the toilet. Keep your poem in couplets, tercets, quatrains, or sestetsyour choice.27. Write a poem in a received form in such a way that the form is concealed.28. Imagine a drink or food dish that would bring you fully alive. Write the recipe.29. Begin with, “This is not the last poem I will write…”30. Elide the Junk: Take a piece of junk mail and black out most of the words so that what remains is a poem.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Poetic Meetup Featuring:MARTHA MARINARA

Orlando Poetry Group presents:Every Third Wednesday@ Austin’sMartha Marinara is an associate professor of English at the University of Central Florida where she teaches rhetoric, First-year writing, and creative writing. She currently directs the Information Fluency Program, a university initiative. Marinara has written two textbooks—Writing Outside the Lines (2000) and Choices: A Handbook for Writers (2008), and published articles in College Composition and Communication and The Journal of Basic Writing. She writes and publishes poetry and fiction, and her work has appeared most recently in Massachusetts Review, Xavier Review, FEMSPEC, Estuary, Lesbian Fiction Quarterly, White Pelican Review, and Alembic. In 2000, she won the Central Florida United Arts Award for Poetry. Street Angel, her first published novel, was released in October 2006 and was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s Best GLBT Novel Award for 2006.Wednesday April 16, 8:30pm

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Just a note that we will not be meeting during BACC days. For those of you who are not "BACCing," I hope you will consider:

-- reading some of the authors I have recommended to you throughout the term, hopefully in a pleasant place with a notebook handy-- reviewing or otherwise creatively or critically responding to the BACC presentations

Guidelines: Volume two of Reconfigurations seeks innovative works concerningprocess--the dynamics of action, exchange, mediation andtransformation--in relationships and communities. In what ways arerelationships either subverted or sustained by the idiosyncrasies ofcommunication? How and why are the fields of commerce, inquiry andperformance shaped primarily by their experiments and questions ratherthan by their commodities and results? What may be discovered by studyingwhat is often forgotten or overlooked (process: inside-out & outside-in)during this age of fascination with product? Submissions addressingmatters of process defined broadly and surprisingly are welcomed. Inaddition to the themes suggested above, other possibilities might include:editing, politics, research, teaching, translation, travel, etc.Reconfigurations invites submissions that engage with those diversifiedfields of signification.

Electronic Submissions: showard@du.edu

Reconfigurations is an electronic, peer-reviewed, international, annualjournal for poetics and poetry, creative and scholarly writing, innovativeand traditional concerns with literary arts and cultural studies.Manuscripts accepted for editorial review: April 1 - August 1.Reconfigurations launches/publishes during the month of November.Copyright remains with the authors. Reconfigurations is an open-access,independently managed journal. ISSN forthcoming.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Introduction to Non-fiction Publishing featuring John Byram and Amy Gorelick of the University Press of Florida Wednesday, April 16, 20082:00 pm Cook Hall Conference Room

Amy Gorelick, Senior Acquisitions Editor, and John Byram, Editor-in-Chief, will discuss the basics of getting your work published; submitting a proposal, when to submit a full manuscript, the review process, the production process, marketing and selling works of non-fiction, and things to avoid when working with a publisher. A question and answer period will follow the brief presentation, with an opportunity to meet and discuss your own work in detail with Ms. Gorelick.

The University Press of Florida, established in 1945, is the largest publisher in Florida and the second largest university press in the Southeast.

UPF's mission is to serve all universities in the SUS system: to answer questions, offer advice, and possibly publish your work.